A large Jian 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Song Dynasty.  Estimate £8,000 - 10,000 (€11,000 - 14,000). Photo Bonhams.

The conical vessel with a slightly everted mouth rim, covered in a black iron glaze with oxidised streaks, thinning at the rim to reveal the brown body material, the glaze pooling slightly above the short foot rim. 12.8cm (5in) diam.

Property of a Gentleman, acquired in the 1990s.

Notes: Tea bowls made in Fujian province, South China have been prized by generations of connoisseurs for their beauty. The famous 'hare's fur' effect is created during the firing when bubbles of iron in the ferrous glaze separate out, rise to the surface, burst and run down the sides of the bowl. Called 'temmoku' tea bowls in Japan, they were reputedly acquired by Buddhist monks during the 12th century at a temple on Tianmu Shan. They were often later metal mounted at the mouth rim and have since achieved the status of national treasures. They can be seen in numerous Japanese museum and private collections and many have been registered as important cultural property.

The bowls were produced during the Song and Jin Dynasties in Jianyang in some of the largest kilns ever excavated - up to sixty-meters long. There are typically three different shapes - a wide flaring conical bowl, a small conical bowl and a larger conical bowl - and there is also a distinction between 'silver' and 'gold hare's fur', the present lot belonging to the last categories in both cases.

Compare with a similarly large 'hare's fur' tea bowl, Southern Song to Jin Dynasty, in the Linyushanren collection, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, London 2012, no.38; also compare with another example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 91.1.226. See a Jian tea bowl, Song Dynasty, but slightly smaller, sold at Christie's Hong Kong 29/05/2013 lot 2227; another example, slightly larger, sold at Sotheby's 11/09/2012 lot 137.

Bonhams. ASIAN ART, 11 May 2015 10:30 BST - LONDON, KNIGHTSBRIDGE